DEVELOPMENT OF AN NOX SENSOR FOR SMALL STATIONARY AND MOBILESOURCES

NOX EMISSIONS FROM COMBUSTION PROCESSES ARE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES SUCH AS ACID RAIN, VEGETATION DAMAGE, SMOG AND CHANGES IN THE OZONE LAYER. A NUMBER OF STRATEGIES DIRECTED AT REDUCING NOX EMISSIONS WOULD BENEFIT FROM REAL TIME NOX EMISSIONS MEASUREMENT SINCE THIS WOULD ALLOW FEEDBACK CONTROL OF THE PROCESS. CURRENT INSTRUMENTATION ALLOWS COST EFFECTIVE MONITORING OF VERY LARGE COMBUSTION PROCESSES AND NEW CATALYTIC TECHNOLOGY BEING DEVELOPED BY CATALYTICA SHOULD EXTEND THIS CAPABILITY TO MEDIUM SIZED STATIONARY COMBUSTION PROCESSES. HOWEVER, NO CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS THE COST EFFECTIVE REAL TIME MONITORING OF SMALL STATIONARY AND MOBILE COMBUSTION PROCESSES. THIS SBIR PROGRAM PROPOSES TO EXTEND CATALYTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY TO THIS SEGMENT BY REDUCING THE SIZE AND COST OF PROTOTYPE NOX SENSORS. SILICON MICROMACHINING AND NEW SENSOR DESIGN WILL BE USED TO REDUCE SENSOR SIZE, POWER REQUIREMENTS AND COST. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL BE DIRECTED AT THE PROOF OF PRINCIPLE OF THE BASIC SENSOR DESIGN AND WILL DEMONSTRATE AN EXPERIMENTAL SENSOR. THE PROGRAM OBJECTIVE IS A SMALL DURABLE SENSOR FOR NO AND NO2 WITH A RANGE OF 0-500 PPM AND A LIFE OF ONE YEAR IN THE HARSH ENVIRONMENTAL OF A COMBUSTION EXHAUST GAS.